Presently, the resupply of military fighting vehicles, such as tanks and self-propelled howitzers, in the field is time-consuming, highly labor intensive and hazardous to personnel. It will be appreciated that resupplying such a vehicle involves not only rearming its weapons system, but refueling the vehicle as well. Also, there may be a need to exchange information while the resupply procedure is ongoing.
Currently, to rearm a mobile weapons system, an ammunition supply vehicle and the tank or self-propelled howitzer rendezvous in the field, and ammunition is unloaded from the former and loaded into the latter. The crew must dismount their vehicles to participate in the transfer of ammunition rounds and thus may be exposed to hostile fire. While conveyors are available to expedite ammunition transfer and to reduce crew exposure, initial positioning of the conveyor is still required by personnel external to the vehicles. Refueling the weapons vehicle then involves a separate rendezvous with a tanker vehicle, and a crew member must dismount to connect up a fuel hose. It will be appreciated that, while these resupply operations are in progress, the weapons vehicle is essentially out of action and especially vulnerable, as are the resupply vehicles.